July 14, 2014 UPDATE
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Bogdan Matei, 14.07.2014, 20:07
Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean talked over the phone on Monday with his counterparts from Israel, Avigdor Lieberman, from Palestine Riad al-Maliki and Jordan, Nasser Judeh, thanking them for the support given by these countries in the operation of repatriating 84 Romanian nationals from the Gaza Strip. Without support from these states, under the extremely difficult conditions in the region, the operation couldn’t have been possible — Foreign Minister Corlatean added. The Romanian citizens and their families have been repatriated upon their request through the Erez crossing and escorted to Amman in Jordan, where they boarded a plane bound for Bucharest. Israel has resumed its air strikes against the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the missile attacks by Hamas militants.
Two thirds of Romania’s eligible population have made public their intention to cast a ballot in the presidential election in November. According to data released on Monday 43% of the voters would vote for Social-Democrat leader Victor Ponta in the first round of voting. Next comes the opposition National Liberal leader Klaus Johannis with 31%, whereas the other centre-to-right contenders have been credited with less than 10% of the votes. In the second round, 52.8% of the interviewees would vote for Ponta and only 47.2% for Johannis.
The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, who this past Sunday won the first WTA tournament hosted by Bucharest has maintained its 3rd position in the WTA standings, made public on Monday. Halep is 175 points clear of WTA 4th –seeded Petra Kvitoka of the Czech Republic. Serena Williams continues to be a WTA top-seed with 9, 510 points, followed by China’s Na Li, with 6, 970 points. Romania’s Sorana Carseta is still seeded 29th, while Monica Niculescu is seeded 59th, Irina Begu, 63rd and Alexandra Cadantu is seeded 99th in the WTA rankings.
Soldiers of the “Michael the Brave” Guard Regiment and cadets of Romania’s military academies took part in the traditional parade staged to celebrate the National Day of France. In 2014, the parade celebrates 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War. It is the eighth year in a row when Romanian military have taken part in such a grand-scale ceremony, which was an impressive air and ground show. The National Day of France was also celebrated in Bucharest, through a reception dinner offered by the French Embassy in Romania. Francophone and Francophile Romania in 2008 became the first country in southeastern Europe to have signed a strategic partnership with France.
Direct foreign investments in Romania have exceeded one billion Euros in the first five months of the year, that is 13.9 per cent more than the similar period of 2013, a Romanian Central Bank press release reveals. Direct foreign investments in Romania reportedly stood at their highest in May 2014, accounting for 306 million Euros. In 2013, the direct foreign investments saw a 26.8 per cent increase as compared to 2012, when the direct foreign investments had been on the rise for the first time since the outbreak of the crisis.
